Wellbeing at work among GPs working in multidisciplinary primary care teams: a cross-sectional study

Transforming primary care (PC) through the development of multidisciplinary teams can represent a challenge in terms of occupational wellbeing.

To investigate associations between occupational stress, job satisfaction among GPs, and the professional composition of PC teams.

We conducted a secondary analysis of the data from 11 Western countries that participated in the 2019 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians (n = 13 200).

PC practice types (n = 5) were defined in a previous study, based on their composition of healthcare professionals, which were as follows: traditional; multidisciplinary; nurse-centred; psychologist-centred; and physiotherapist-centred models. Using ordered logistic regression analysis, we assessed associations between the five practice models and two GP-reported indicators of wellbeing at work: job satisfaction and occupational stress.

Working in multidisciplinary teams, when compared with traditional (GP-centred) practice, was associated with higher occupational wellbeing, both through lower occupational stress (odds ratio [OR] 0.77, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.68 to 0.87) and greater job satisfaction (OR 1.43, 95% CI = 1.26 to 1.62). This positive association was also observed in psychologist-centred practices for occupational stress (OR 0.81, 95% CI = 0.71 to 0.93) and for job satisfaction (OR 1.24, 95% CI = 1.09 to 1.42). Working in nurse-centred practices was associated with greater satisfaction but only in the smallest practices (OR 1.59, 95% CI = 1.14 to 2.22) with <1.4 full-time equivalent (FTE) GPs.

Positive associations between multidisciplinary PC teams and occupational wellbeing are important results for the future of healthcare systems in Western countries, providing interesting avenues for improvements for healthcare professionals and policymakers.